Overview
- The Office for National Statistics reported on Thursday that net migration fell to 171,000 in 2025, roughly half the 331,000 recorded in 2024 and the lowest level since 2021.
- The ONS said the main cause was a 47% fall in arrivals of non‑EU nationals for work, which cut lawful inflows even as roughly 813,000 people immigrated and 642,000 emigrated in 2025.
- The Labour government has presented the decline as progress on its pledge to control migration, and ministers including Keir Starmer and Shabana Mahmood publicly credited policy changes for the drop.
- Despite the headline fall, asylum applications edged up to about 88,000 in 2025 and 41,472 people made small‑boat crossings of the Channel that year, keeping pressure on border and asylum policy.
- Longer trends help explain the shift: EU migration has fallen since Brexit and restrictive visa rules introduced in early 2024 also reduced legal inflows, a change that could affect employers, public services, and political debate.